acontritemess | Reunion;

Reunion;

[That meeting had been annoying, awkward, and left Nathan with a bitter taste in his mouth. The last time he'd joined the lot of them in battle, he'd nearly killed them all, himself included. Now they wanted him to join a concerted effort to assault one of their adversary's weapons depots.

It felt really weird calling them "adversaries", but that's what Natalia insisted on calling them, and who was he exactly to argue with a centuries-old vampire? He couldn't help but smile at that thought. Tony'd hate him for it. "Does that make me an exception, Nathaniel?" He could hear it already. The little meeting they'd had after the main one was boring, and he let Cairn do the majority of the talking.

He was actually finding himself a little exhausted from all the meeting he'd been doing. A year was a long time to be in seclusion and contemplative meditation with only one other person for company and he could already tell it was going to take some to to acclimate to being around people again. There was actually only one person he wanted to talk to at the moment. He hadn't seen her for over a year, and she looked so...different now. Not anything too noticeable, just subtle differences. She held her shoulders straighter, made eye contact. She was more confident, that was it, and it was hot.

Adorable, but hot. Like she'd always been, like he'd remembered her to be. Finally he was dismissed for the night to go back to the rooms they'd prepared for him, and he didn't waste any time getting out of there.

What he wasn't planning on was stumbling upon Luther the Egotistical Prick and Airy in the hall. She didn't look happy to be there and Nathan's eyes immediate narrowed.]

I'm not interrupting anything, am I? [His voice was even, controlled. He didn't like what he was seeing, but the past year had taught him that much at least. How to control his anger, at least to an extent.]

[Luther responds to his question, but doesn't even give Nathan the respect of turning to look at him when he does.] As a matter of fact you are.

[Nathan's tone darkens slightly.] I wasn't asking you.

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[Airy squints at the sun before smiling awkwardly at Nathan.]

Is that how that works?

[It isn't the sort of thing she's had a lot of experiance with.]

So you're really good with fire?

[Explosions sound awesome and Airy's looking forward to Luther being asleep when they get back.]

That's usually how that works, yeah.

[He nods, giving her a small shrug.]

Something to do with the planetary alignment at the time of my birth and how it influences the elemental affinity. [A pause.] And before you ask, yes, I did read that in a book, and yes Cairn did give me a test on it.

I wouldn't know. [What are dates.]

[Airy bites her bottom lip trying not to laugh.]

That's impressive. I've been reading a lot too. I've learned more about Creators. They sound a lot cooler than I am though.

[The store comes into view and Airy smiles at the familiar sight. She doesn't actually remember the last time she got coffee.]

Unless...you don't want it to be a date. That's...cool, too. [It felt weird being back in the city after so long away, all the towering skyscrapers and the bumper to bumper traffic, even this early, reminded him just how many people there were here, and he found himself wanting to get his coffee and get back to HQ.

What did that say about him?]

Yeah? I didn't think anyone knew about Creators anymore.

[She smiles softly and shakes her head.]

It can be.

[Airy doesn't really care if they label the time they hang out as a date or not. The fact of the matter is they are together again and she has her friend back. It isn't as if her happy mood is about to drop.]

Oh and they don't. No one really does. A few of us [She isn't about to mention Luther's name again or that he is one of Airy's main guards.] went to somewhere in Europe. I think it was near Rome. We found a few Latin... tombs, I guess, that mentioned them but it was always super vague. Did you have anything where you were or was it just rocks, trees and hills sort of thing?

[She really wants to hear more about the forest he stayed in. Airy already knew what training with a wizard is like and she assumes that Carin is many times worse. It is strange seeing Carin again, considering the first time they had met was in Airy's head. It's a strange thought but she wonders what the old man thinks of her.]

[He smiles in a way he at least hopes looks cool, but he's a little out of practice with pretending to be an emotion that he isn't. It probably comes off as awkward.]

Cool.

[He clears his throat.] You went tomb raiding for an ancient script without me? What the hell? [He chuckles, shaking his head.] That's...yeah. Rocks, trees, mountains. Cutting a lot of firewood. No power. Or indoor plumbing. I'm not sure what it all had to do with "learning to focus" but... [He shrugs.]

[Airy smiles, Nathan's smile always works on her and while she might not think him cool she thinks he's the most amazing person that she knows.]

It wasn't... that exciting. [That's a lie but Gus is better at telling the details.] Cutting firewood? [That paints a nice picture in her thoughts.] So we won't be getting cold any time soon.

What else did you do? Focusing is probably a good thing.

[She's a little over eager to hear more however when the coffee shop comes into view she takes a few quick stride ahead and holds open the door for Nathan.]

After you.

You know what? I'm calling BS on that one. [He chuckles, shaking his head. Leave it to Airy to try to belittle pulling off something like that.]

Yep. Firewood, and no. My days of chopping wood are over.

[He frowns at his wording but he can't come up with any other way to say it, either.]

Uh...a mot of meditating, and pulling in energy and learning how to let it go again without doing anything with it. That's the hard part. Pulling it in, giving it a shape and letting it out, that's...easier. Just letting it go? That takes a lot of self-control.

[He looks over to her.]

What about you? Did you figure anything out about not just...making stuff happen?

[Airy's grin turns a little sheepish. It had been a pretty crazy trip but Gus still tells it better. He makes it seem more life threatening than it was.]

That doesn't sound like a lot of fun.

[Just saying.]

I... learned a lot.

[She wiggles her fingers as she walks up to the counter.]

Less accidents. [Though Nathan usually distracts her enough to stop her mind from wandering.] I'm learning more, I technically have... three teachers. No one really knows how to train me.

[They are trying though.

Airy steps up towards the counter, it's early enough that there aren't many people there yet.]

White chocolate mocha... large? [The sizes will always confuse her. She turns back towards Nathan.] Do you want what you usually get? Or used to usually get?

I don't know. Rome sounds pretty cool. I went to Arkansas. [He smiles.] Yeah? Like what? What can you do?

[He smiles more sheepishly when she orders and asks him that question. She remembers what I like?] The usual.

[Nathan makes it a little hard to forget what he likes.] And a second white chocolate Mocha with a double shot. Names are Airy for the first and Nathan for the second.

[She hands the girl a shiny blue credit card before looking back at Nathan.]

Do you want me to tell you or show you? Oh, I did buy something cool in Rome. [She might have also gotten something small for him though thinking about it now it feels really stupid.]

Whoa, Tony gave you a credit card? [He pouts slightly.] How come I never got a credit card?

[It wasn't genuine, though, and he quickly moved on.]

You can show me later, but what'd you buy in Rome?

[Airy laughs.]

I asked. Oh, [She quickly turns back to the woman at the cash register.]

Can I also have a small camerla macchiato with an extra shot? Name's Rachel. [She has some sucking up to do if she wants to try and take the day off. Luckily with it being daytime, all the vampires are asleep. With that done she turns back to Nathan, smiles and steps towards the end counter.]

I bought this really small statue thing I thought was cool and then I found something I wanted to give you. [Her smile widens.] But it's in my room so you'll have to wait until we get back and then I'll give it to you.

[She isn't going to give him any hints, mostly because it's dumb.

Airy knows that Nathan's been good for a year but standing at Starbucks and just talking... it doesn't feel like he left at all. She's changed a lot of that year though and she wonders if he'll notice or if he'll like the person she is now. She's still herself but parts of her were missing, even after Seth put her back together.]

So how was Carin's training? Besides waterfalls.

Rachel? [He raised an eyebrow.] The healer? You know her?

[He really had a lot of catching up to do.]

What kind of statue? [He took a deep breath as they moved to the other end of the table.] ...I don't know. Peaceful, but...complicated? The cabin was within 100 miles of another node. Not too close, but I guess that's why he picked the spot.

Yeah, Rachel is Carin's granddaughter. She was one of my teachers. I thought I'd bribe her with coffee so that we could spend the day together. [Assuming that's okay.] Assuming you want to spend that much time with me.

[She takes a seat across from Nathan swinging her legs beneath her and hooking her ankles.]

It's of the coliseum but... broken. [Since the coliseum is broken.]

[Airy feels a little awkward when he brings up the node. They never have talked about what happened when he came in to get her and she doesn't feel like Starbucks is the place for that.]

How was it complicated?

[She isn't sure what else to ask and while she's kept up eye contact now she glances away and towards the barista's waiting for their coffee. She wishes that she had something in her hands to fiddle with.]

[He blinked at the new knowledge. Cairn never mentioned Rachel was his granddaughter.] I'd love to. [He smiles over at her, running a hand through his hair.] Like I said, I missed you.

[And he laughed.] Isn't it supposed to be broken?

There's...so much power there, and it's...I don't know...more excited? It takes a lot of focus to work with the power in a node. It...it's like trying to push a car uphill just trying to hold on to it.

[Airy smiles in return, she's more than a little happy that he's willing to spend the day with her.] Good.

[Her smile falters some but it's good to hear him laughing, yes, it's suppose to be broken but she has no idea how else to describe it.

Airy listens curiously, his metaphor is the sort of thing she can understand. Her own training has centered on a lot of focus though and less brute strength. She's about to say something more when she hears their names being called by the man behind them. She rises from her seat and turns with a warm smile.]

Thank you.

[Then comes the struggle of putting on the cardboard things and then the green stir for Rachel's coffee.]

Did you want to take this back with us? I have something I want to show you.

[At the appearance of his coffee, Nathan smiles widely and simply smells the delicious smelling drink for a moment before taking a careful sip.

Oh. Oh God. Coffee.]

You're an angel, you know that, right? Like water to a dying man.

[He nods.] Sure. New York feels a little more crowded than usual.

[Airy feels the heat seep into her fingertips as she takes hold of the two cups. She brings the first to her lips and sips it. It isn't her drink and in response she makes a disgruntled face before switching the green stir and taking a sip of her own. She releases a warm sigh, she's almost forgotten how good this tastes.

It was hard to get coffee with Nathan gone. She shakes her head and then gestures towards the door with a smile.]

I'm glad you think so. [She almost wants to laugh after seeing Nathan so happy; coffee always does the trick.] I've always thought that New York was a little crowded.

[Airy uses her hip to open the door and then holds it ajar for Nathan to slip through. She looks back at those behind the counter and is remembered of that day over a year ago when she went to Starbucks. She feels as if they should talk about that but after so long Airy isn't even sure what she should say. Once Nathan is on his way she follows behind, sipping her coffee with a general air of ease and warmth radiating from her. Things haven't been perfect since Nathan left but Airy's stronger now, or at least she likes to think so. Her head tilts to look up at him and then shakes trying to push her long hair over her shoulder while her hands were full.

She wants to tell him about those who'd be excited to see him, like Gus and even Rachel considering the amount of times Nathan's name came up in conversation. Except Airy doesn't really feel like sharing him, he's finally back and she just wants it to be like he never left, where they could hang out all day and just have fun.

Things aren't so simple anymore.

With a heavy sigh Airy turns her attention back towards where they were walking. There is a lot she wants to tell him but doing so on the street doesn't seem like a good idea. Plus he's enjoying his coffee which isn't a moment she's looking to ruin. The sun continues to peek up towards the sky and Airy smiles as the familiar orange glow bathes the city in light.]

I grew up in a small town after all. [She adds the comment as an afterthought, not realizing that Nathan has seen her home town.]

[Nathan frowned a little at the mention of her hometown. He knows what they found there, and what she'd done to the place and the people in it, but he wasn't going to mention it. Besides, this was a good moment. There was no need to ruin it. He was actually surprised at how much he missed coffee.

Well, he was for a moment, until he remembered the month-long headache he had after leaving New York.

It looked like a renewed caffeine addiction was in his future.

He couldn't say he really cared all that much. He nodded at her explanation.]

Yeah. Island Falls, right? That's a weird name for a town.

[Airy looks over at him with a smile.]

What? I always thought it was a cool name. Made it sound like I was from a town in a fairy tail.

[Except that a bunch of crazy stuff has happened since she thought that about her home and there are still times when she wishes things would go back to normal. Airy doesn't really remember what normal is anymore.

She takes a sip of her coffee, feeling the caffeine and warmth move through her.]

Want to know a secret? [She breaths against the lip of her cup and then takes another sip.] I haven't been to starbucks since you left. Coffee made me miss you.

[She also didn't go to 'breakfast' because it always smelt like coffee. It was annoying when you wanted the person it reminded you of to be back.]

[He laughed at her description. It was so, typically and refreshingly Airy. God, he missed her.]

Yeah, I guess it kind of does.

[But at her admission, his eyebrows rose and he looked over to her and just looked for a moment.]

...seriously?

[Airy sudden feels very awkward. She looks over at him trying to keep her tone even as if it isn't a big deal.]

What? You drink coffee all the time.

[...and talk about it a lot. It isn't her fault that she's associated the memories to him. Clearly, it's his fault and that stare is not appreciated because her cheeks are beginning to feel very very warm.

Airy promptly looks away sipping her coffee. The compound is just around the corner so maybe the conversation will drop when they get inside.]

[Do I really talk about coffee that much? ...damn, I had a serious caffeine problem...]

I just...didn't realize you cared that much.

[Airy blinks a few times looking from Nathan to the sidewalk and then to her coffee.]

Why would I not care?

[She's a little confused and she doesn't really want to mention how angry and hopeless she felt when he left. Remembering Nathan... hurt because she missed him. Isn't that normal when friends leave?]

We're friends Nathan...

[Or at least she hopes so...]

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